


i can feel you

by bokutoma



Series: music, when soft voices die [6]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Fish out of Water, he’s got some self esteem issues, soft ferdie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21696094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokutoma/pseuds/bokutoma
Summary: there are plenty of things ferdinand doesn’t understand about flayn
Relationships: Flayn/Ferdinand von Aegir
Series: music, when soft voices die [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1494992
Comments: 14
Kudos: 55





	i can feel you

There are plenty of things Ferdinand doesn’t understand about Flayn. Really, that’s the understatement of the year, but then again, there are probably a thousand things she doesn’t understand about him, too. He can’t claim normalcy like some of his peers; despite their eccentricities, it’s for easier for Caspar or Hilda to make friends than it is for him. Words muddle together in his head, and what makes sense to him often deeply offends others.

Flayn, though...she understands. He sees the same struggle on her own face, sees where the words catch in her throat until they sputter out and die, intent gone awry. For her, she is fortunate, because everything about her is gentle and soft, and even when others misunderstand, they know she wants nothing but the best for everyone. Everything about her is a kindness.

Ferdinand is clumsy. Perhaps when it comes to luncheons with his father’s peers or balls with all of the Empire’s highest bred, he is in his element, but among his own, people he should be able to befriend without making a fool of himself in the process, he is lost. Even Dorothea, the person he would now say he could consider his closest friend, once thought him to be nothing more than a pompous brat.

For a while, he thought that was all he’d ever be.

Flayn, however, has never seen him that way. She’s compassionate in a way he’s never really experienced before, all openness with none of the scheming he’s grown up around and been bred for. The things she says sometimes are utterly ridiculous, and it’s hardly a wonder to him that she chafes against Seteth’s restrictions with such limited knowledge, but it’s charming. Everyone has weaknesses, but Flayn’s don’t appear that way, not when she’s so bright and lively. She’s ethereal, really, and maybe that’s why she’s the person he feels most comfortable with.

She is an angel made flesh, and she reminds him of the stories of Saint Cethleann’s generosity. When he tells her so (and he tells her often, because he is nothing if not an overly verbose idiot given to extreme displays of affection), she is inordinately pleased, and so is he, because this, at least, is something he can do right.

If he’s truly honest, if he really confesses the secrets of his heart, he will admit that he doesn’t feel like he deserves this, this quiet, gentle companionship. He has never been Dorothea, charming in her outgoing nature, or Hubert, magnetic despite - _because of_ \- his alarming and sinister...charm.

He has never been Edelgard, charismatic beyond belief, the kind of person anyone might follow without question.

Flayn fits him, though. They complement each other’s minds, their mutually inquisitive natures left to flourish together. When he had embraced her, eager to pull her out of harm’s way, she had tucked against him, and something had sang achingly sweet inside him, beautiful and haunting as any of Manuela’s arias. It felt like completion, and even if that isn’t something you can really find in another person, he’s glad to have it regardless.

Expectations weigh heavily upon them both, he’s discovered, and even if he’s not quite certain what Seteth’s expectations _are_ , Ferdinand finds that’s hardly the point anyway. Instead, they find it in the gentle ease they have with each other, fairy tale expectations met in full for once.

He loves her. It’s something he’s not certain how to approach, but he knows he should; he gets the distinct feeling that though she may not have wanted for it in a general sense, love in all its variety may not have been something she’s had access to. He won’t be bold enough to assume he knows her heart, because though he may be foolish, he isn’t an idiot. Still, he’s confident in this feeling, the quiet strength it gives him.

If this is it, he can be content. If they remain simply this, a man and a woman, sitting side by side, relishing in their companionship, he will be pleased.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @kingblaiddyd and drinking coffee @akaschoene
> 
> this was made possible by the donation of @theesnakebitch on twitter! thank you so much :)


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